Sheriff Richard Wiles: El Paso police merger possible

Sheriff Richard Wiles, a former police chief who campaigned on consolidation of the El Paso Police Department and the Sheriff's Office in 2008, said the merger of the two agencies is still possible.

The efforts to consolidate have been unsuccessful because of opposition of the previous city administration and police unions, he said.

But Wiles, the principal advocate of the idea, remains hopeful.

"I think as things change, as we see some changes, we may be able to do more," Wiles said at a public meeting last week as he referred to his friendship with Mayor Oscar Leeser and the hiring of a new city manager.

"Oscar Leeser is a good friend of mine and we have talked about it," Wiles said.

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Despite several requests, Leeser declined to be interviewed about the issue but released a statement instead.

"The City has not been approached by Sheriff Wiles recently and does not have enough information on the issue. However, the City is willing to explore all options," Leeser said.

Although there has not been a formal proposal or meeting, Wiles said he would like to resume conversations with the city.

Wiles said he supports the consolidation of the departments because it would reduce the duplication of services resulting in cost savings to the taxpayers.

"It makes no sense to have two SWAT teams, two crisis management teams, there is two of everything. It's about efficiency," he said.

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New City Manager Tommy Gonzalez, whose first day at work was Monday, said in a written statement that he is open to study any ideas.

"Any ideas are welcomed and will be considered and reviewed. On any proposed idea staff needs to ensure that it is efficient use of taxpayer dollars and would be in compliance with Texas statutes to ensure cooperation and effectiveness for all involved agencies. Should we receive information on this certain project staff would begin the review," Gonzalez said in the statement.

Under the previous administration when John Cook was the mayor and Joyce Wilson was the city manager, Wiles and the city were unsuccessful in consolidating the management of both agencies.

Wiles said city officials requested a proposal. He said his office came up with a proposal in which his office would create a management team to run the police and the sheriff's office. He said it would save about $1 million.

"My proposal was to eliminate all the PD management and my people would step in and county and city would split the cost. That would make it easier to consolidate the rest of the departments," he said.

But the city wanted to do the opposite — something Wiles did not like, he said.

"They wanted to eliminate the sheriff's staff. The problem with that is that you can't eliminate the sheriff, which is an elected office. It's a constitution mandated office in every county," he said.

In addition, the city proposed to close the entire sheriff's substations, eliminate taking patrol cars home and replace some higher-paying jobs with lower pay while keeping high-paying management positions, Wiles said.

But the main opposition comes from El Paso Municipal Police Officers' Association and El Paso County Sheriff's Officers Association, he said.

"You get two unions and it's really about power. They don't want to come together in one," he said.

Ron Martin, president of El Paso Municipal Police Officer's Association, denied Wiles comments and said there is no a fight for power between unions.

Martin said Wiles wants to merge because he wants more funding.

"We (El Paso Police Department) have the largest department with the most funding, with the most personnel and equipment and if we ever merge, since he is an elected sheriff of El Paso county, he would then control everything," Martin said.

El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen was not available for comment on Saturday.

The Police Department's annual budget is $122.5 million. The Sheriff's Office has a budget of about $100 million, of which 70 percent goes to maintain the jail.

Martin said Wiles has never presented a plan on how the consolidation is going to benefit the people who live within the city limits.

"One thing he does not say when he was our police chief, he never brought us to the number one safest city in the nation. But our current chief did and our current chief has kept us there," Martin said. "I don't see what he could bring to the table that would make us want to become a metro unit."

However, the El Paso City Council and Commissioners Court have the ultimate decision of combining the agencies, Martin said.

County Judge Veronica Escobar supports the idea of combining the police and sheriff departments. She said law enforcement is a tremendous part of the county and the city budgets.

"I still believe it's where our greatest opportunities for cost savings would come from, but you have to have not just two willing governments, you have to have a willing leader in the sheriff's office who is willing to make it happen, because without him there is no way it will happen," Escobar said.

"Wiles is close with the mayor, he endorsed the mayor very publicly, his PIO helped run the mayor's campaign, so there is definite unity there. If we can achieve savings in the law-enforcement arena the big winner is the taxpayer," she added.

County Commissioner Vince Perez said consolidation is an important topic to address as federal resources become more scarce each year, however, he believes other actions should take place first.

"We need to reduce our jail cost," he said. "We can start with the jail first."

He said the Sheriff's Office operates the most expensive jail in Texas. The Sheriff's Office spends $72 million a year on its two jail facilities.

In addition, the jail annex on Montana Avenue is in the process of expanding the facility by 430 beds, increasing its yearly cost by $10 million, he said. He compared it to San Antonio, a city with double the population of El Paso, which spends $54 million operating its jails.

"We have to come up with innovative ways to meet growing demands of our population while not imposing substantial tax increases on tax payers," Perez said.

This would not be the first time the county and city share services.

Currently the county and the city have a partnership to promote economic development in the area.

Instead of creating its own department, the county has two full time rural economic development specialists that the county pays for embedded at the city's economic development department.

But not all efforts have been successful.

County and city abandoned the arrangement to combine the management of the information technology departments after having some troubles.